Inequalities and poverty created by globalisation could be removed through Gandhian philosophy, said former Rector of Andhra University A. Prasanna Kumar while inaugurating a two-day national seminar on globalisation, governance and Gandhi, being organised by the Gandhian Studies Centre of Andhra University here on Wednesday.
“Globalisation is inescapable and inevitable but its painful effects must be resisted, and Gandhi provides us inspiration here. Gandhi is relevant at local, individuals, micro and national levels”, said Prof. Prasanna Kumar.
One observation was that goal of democracy was good government and goal of liberalisation was good governance, which was a combination of politics, administration and management, he said. Market economy was good but not the market culture.
While Plato might have given thoughts of communism the greatness of Mark's communism in the modern era was that he had converted a chaos into a movement and Gandhi created a great force culminating Tagore, Vivekananda, Humes sand Annie Besant.
In Russia there was communism, Nazism from Germany, fascism from Italy and capitalism from America and non-violence emerged from India, noted Prof. Prasanna Kumar. He also said that Gandhi was not against technology but accepted it if it helped the poor.
Deputy Director of Gandhi National Museum (New Delhi) A.D. Mishra said Gandhi crated history for himself and for the rest of the world to follow him.
Dr. Mishra, author of Reading Gandhi, was of the opinion that globalisation and governance have to be defined not in the western world's point of view but in the context of Indian traditions and culture because the problems in India could not be solved through western methodology.
He regretted the Indian scholars' habit of quoting western intellectuals. They would not go into the Indian scriptures like the Gita or the works in regional languages which were full of stories on governance. Ethics of Gandhi should be inculcated into every individual, he said.
Programme Coordinator of Gandhian Studies Centre and HoD of Social Workd A.B.S.V. Ranga Rao presided and explained about the centre and the seminar. Gandhians Lakshmipathi Raju, Vijayam and others participated. Delegates from Aligarh Muslim University, Orissa, Puducherry and others States are attending the seminar.
